Episode 9: Tales from the Crypt Scares Us!

Check out episode 9 (below this post, or click here), focusing on the EC Comics phenomenon of the 1950s, which gave us Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, and The Vault of Horror. 

I name-dropped Graham Ingels a bunch during the episode; even though the Old Witch, my favorite Ghoulunatic, isn't hosting it, here's one of my favorite stories from Tales from the Crypt, "Blood Type 'V'! (Bang!)"

And speaking of vampires ... the final issue of The Vault of Horror, illustrated by Johnny Craig, which definitely possesses, shall we say, a queer sensibility ...

And finally, a few portraits Graham Ingels painted of the Old Witch in his later years:

Tales From the Crypt Scares Us

Hi Dear Listeners,

We hope you had a wonderful and festive holiday!  We spent our holiday fighting technical difficulties, but creepy Krampus brought us a sack full of tech support gore and our episode is finally released.  This week we discuss The Tales From The Crypt Series and all of its glory.  Be warned this is a bit of non-scary episode, but the story of the rise and fall of this beloved franchise should scare us all!

In this episode we talk about possible poorly constructed murder plots, memories from Eastern Montana, why you shouldn't listen to Brand New anymore, and ways to find non-murdery hobbies.

So, come join us to learn about the origins of those wonderful Tales From The Crypt cartoons, movies, TV series, and Comics that you may remember from your childhood in the 90's (nostalgia)!  Also, the end of the episode has a creepy Christmas tie in that we totally planned when we recorded.  Enjoy the rest of the holiday season dear listeners!

**Clinkies**

Katya and Laramie

Come listen to the episode

Happy Holidays from This Place Scares Us!

Episode 9 ... Coming soon!

Episode Nine (Coming Soon!): Tales from the Crypt Scares Us

While you're tremulously waiting for Episode 9 to drop (this Sunday!), prepare yourselves by reading this story that upset Katya so much ... from EC Comics' Tales from the Crypt #33 to, um, bone up (heh heh heh, to quote the Crypt Keeper):

Here's the cover, which I first glimpsed in its Gladstone Comic reprint in the late spring/early summer of 1990, in Gordon's, a now-defunct grocery store in Glasgow, Montana:

Horror in the Daylight Scares Us!

What is that thing?  Is it a bear? The werewolf from Silver Bullet?  Or something more ... sinister? 

(Photo of the Clark Fork River in our very own Missoula, Montana; courtesy of my talented husband.)

WITCH!

A little taste of what we watched tonight, and what we'll record about tomorrow eve ...

Monsters Scare Us!

In a recent episode (and I can't remember which one exactly; you should just go back and listen to them all!  Again!) but in a recent episode I referenced the Crestwood House monster books; if you were a child of the 70s/80s, you probably remember them:  your library had them, they were orange and black, and they sported a scandalized looking King Kong on their backs.  Like this:

Isn't he a looker?

Anyway, I checked out The Wolfman and Dracula the most frequently (from multiple libraries; at the time, it seemed that every little town in Eastern Montana had 'em); it was The Wolfman that scared me so badly that my parents gave me a silver pen to sleep with to protect me.  I'm going to assume it worked, since I have yet to be attacked by a werewolf.  I guess it only takes on time, though, doesn't it.

The first few pages, starting with Oliver Reed from Curse of the Werewolf ...

And then this description, which terrified me, and recurs whenever I think of the full moon in autumn ...

And the photo that sent me -- ahem -- howling for that silver pen.

And you should follow Kong's advice ...

When I think of Dracula, this is the first thing that comes to mind.  Always.

And finally, a little teaser for the big news that I'll be revealing in a future episode ...

Episode 8: Being Compliant Scares Us!

I did not realize, when we talked up the 2012 film Compliance based on the events Katya and I discussed in Episode 8 (click here to give a listen, or simply scroll down below this post, as Davey brilliantly linked the blog and the podcast site!) ... I did not realize that it starred Ms. Dreama Walker, who I was a little obsessed with a few years ago when she starred on the much underappreciated  Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23.  Now I must see it.

Strip Search Phone Scam

Hello Dear listeners,

Welcome to a truly terrifying episode of This Place Scares Us!  This week we are discussing the horrible phenomenon that was "Strip Search Phone Scams".  Were you alive for the eras of phone cards, star 6-9, and calling collect?  If you weren't you get to learn lots, if you were then enjoy a trip into nostalgia. So come learn why picking up the phone may be a scary thing to do!

Also, we shout out some of our wonderful listeners! CommaSplice, Tori, and a wonderful reviewer on iTunes gave us lots of reasons to feel great!  Plus, Katya and Laramie struggle with words, idioms, and common phrases throughout!

We do joke around a bunch in this episode, but much like our Israel Keys episode, this phenomenon had lasting awful implications for the people involved. So please come join us as we talk about something sad, and finish it up with a recommendation. ALWAYS QUESTION AUTHORITY and TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!!!

***CLINKIES***

Katya and Laramie

Come listen to the episode

Episode Eight Coming TOMORROW: Complying Scares Us!

Here's a little tease for tomorrow's episode ...

Episode Two: Winning THE LOTTERY Scares Us

Find out why winning the Shirley Jackson lottery is so much more rewarding than others of its kind by clicking here.

Horror in the Daylight Scares Us

 I teach a film studies unit for my Intermediate Theatre class, and this year I replaced The Dark Knight, which I had grown excruciatingly exhausted teaching, with Jaws, which I never get tired of ... anything.  And while I was teaching it, I realized how much of it follows the "horror in the daylight" trope that Katya and I have spent much time discussing, and that Davey loves so much.  (Someday Katya and I will do an episode on the entire Jaws quadrology -- which is totally a word I just now invented and plan to use forevermore -- all four of 'em ... even Jaws:  The Revenge.  Especially Jaws:  The Revenge.)  It's bad enough that something horrible lurks beneath the surface of a place we treat as a recreational toy, waiting to explode from the water and chomp us to death in a horrible fountain of our own blood, but for it to happen in broad daylight, when we can actually see, and should be able to defend ourselves ...?  Unacceptable.

I started considering this post when I found this "deleted" image from an earlier trial of the Alex Kintner death scene (you know, the poor kid who finds himself on the wrong end of the shark's serrated titular teeth).  Now, I love me the original scene (you can see it in gif format below), but there is something really, truly horrible about the maw of this leviathan beast just looming over doomed little Alex and his soon-to-be-tattered yellow raft. 

In broad daylight.

Ohmygod.  You can totally see his awful little eye and the top of his snout.

The schlub in the pond, otherwise known as "the estuary victim."  The first time we get a pretty good look at the shark, and it's unnerving as hell.

Episode Seven: Angelique Scares Us!

Katya and I discuss this moment (one of my very favorites in the whole series), where Angelique the witch curses her husband Barnabas to a life of bloodsucking and eternal emo-ness ... and the flappy stick bat that appears immediately after on the latest episode.  (Those aren't special effects; those are Lara Parker's actual eyes.)  Click here to listen now!

Episode Six: Ultraterrestrials Scare Us!

Katya introduced me to the magical term "ultraterrestrial" (oops; blogger doesn't recognize that as a word) during episode six (click here to listen), while we talked about the so-called "black eyed kid" phenomenon (I wish they made a sarcasm font; sorry Katya!).  I found this lovely image of the ultimate ultraterrestrial, Katya's darling, the Mothman!  We'll get around to doing a Mothman episode; don't you worry your pasty little faces about it. 

Look out!  Here he is!

Episode 4: The Circleville Letter Writer Scares Us!

Curious about Circleville, Ohio?  Who isn't!  A fascinating place, obviously - listen to Episode 4 by clicking here and learn all about the poison pen wielding madmen and/or madwomen who terrorized a small midwestern town ... and may have led to murder! 

They like pumpkins too.  You'll see.

 Welcome to Circleville.

Home of the Pumpkin Show.

And the spooky Octagon House, which has seen better days.

They care about their pumpkins, and here's the thing -- I get it.  I do.  I lived in Southern Illinois for three years, where there were apple fests and vulture fests and mosquito fests ... so many fests. 

...excuse me.  SHOWS.

Fan Art!

This Place Scares Us fan art, by anonymous!

Episode 7: House of Dark Shadows Scares Us!

 Are you as confused as Katya was by the not-so-exposition-heavy tale of House of Dark Shadows?  Then please ... allow the February 1971 issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland clear things up!  (And if you haven't listened yet, worry not! Click here and you'll be delivered into the waiting arms of Barnabas Collins!